The images of the Baltimore protests popping off television screens are of particular focus in Cincinnati Thursday as organizers of Black Lives Matter conduct a rally at the Hamilton County Courthouse.

“We want police who kill people to be arrested, plain and simple. And it’s not happening,” Brian Taylor said, who organized the event.

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With demonstrations in some other cities resulting in arrests, the expectations for Thursday’s protest are top of mind for law enforcement authorities.

Hamilton County Sheriff Jim Neil, aware of the planned demonstration in Cincinnati and the tensions at various places around the country, said he is a full-throated supporter of peaceful protest and assembly.

“We’re just concerned like all of you are with groups that splinter off that has an illegal or unlawful agenda,” Neil said.

So police and county deputies are coordinating their efforts to monitor Thursday’s rally. Monitor, they say, not limit, interfere with or intrude upon.

Brian Taylor was in contact with various churches, student groups and social justice organizations about participating.

Taylor said he was unsure how many people would be there, recognizing the threat and inconvenience of rainy weather. A few hundred were there as the group began marching to Cincinnati District 1 Police Headquarters.

Cincinnati Police Chief Jeffrey Blackwell said he estimated the size of the crowd to be about 500 or 600 people.

And with the tension level high across the country, Black Lives Matter Cincinnati anticipated no confrontational type of law enforcement display Thursday.

“Allow us to protest and do what we need to do and to basically not be confrontational or provocative,” Taylor said. “That would be the very best thing they could do in this tense situation.”

The group is calling for the arrest and indictment of the Baltimore officers involved in the death of Freddie Gray, the lifting of the week-long curfew in that city and the dismissal of criminal charges against protestors.

“(The protestors) are not coming to stir up anything,” Pastor Peterson Mingo said. “But people have questions, people want to vent, people want to be heard. They want to be able to express themselves and they’re providing a venue for that.”

Taylor reiterated the demonstrators would not try to get people arrested or to break the law. He said the group would actively and militantly address issues that are not being addressed now.

There appears to be a deepening disconnect on those issues of policing, particularly as they relate to minority communities.

Neil has seen the images of looting and burning in Baltimore and said that’s another level that rises beyond mere protest and free speech.

“That’s a criminal act and that won’t be tolerated,” Neil said.

Tolerance is being tested on many American streets this week.

The expression of viewpoints can often be uncomfortable, at times antagonistic. But free expression remains a Constitutional bulwark of the country.

“And they’re providing a venue for that (expression),” Mingo said. “They’re not providing a venue for rioting, looting and everything else that goes with that.”

When asked about his overall view of this week’s difficulties and demonstrations, Taylor told WLWT News 5’s John London, “The bottom line is I don’t believe police can be reformed. We believe that the racism that exists in society is an inherent part of that institution which includes the courts.”